


“Justé Talant, Second Handmaiden in the Second Class for Padmé Amidala”

by Polgarawolf



Series: Star Wars: You Became to Me [19]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Handmaidens, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), POV Original Character, Sacrificial ethics, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-16
Updated: 2007-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-13 08:39:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/501574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polgarawolf/pseuds/Polgarawolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is fifteen random but chronological moments from the life of Justé Talant, who is, quite literally, the second handmaiden in the second training class of potential handmaidens chosen from among a large pool of applicants for the job for the newly elected Nabooian Queen Padmé Amidala. There is an actual story here – one small thread among the vast woven tapestry of life that is the living history of the galaxy, stretched out and twisted, knotted into the whole, curled down among the roots of time, connecting various moments together – but one must read between the lines to capture it. It is not precisely the truth, for the subtle story of these moments is sketched out here in words, and, in the sin of writing down a life, it inevitably changes the shape of things. But it is nevertheless a form of truth. (From a certain point of view . . . )</p>
            </blockquote>





	“Justé Talant, Second Handmaiden in the Second Class for Padmé Amidala”

**Author's Note:**

> **Warning:** This story functions as a sort of compressed codex for Justé Talant’s life, as she is going to be written (or at least referred to) in my not even nearly complete AU **Star Wars** series **_You Became to Me_**. If anything doesn’t make sense, please feel free to ask!
> 
>  **Author’s Notes: 1.)** Again, for anyone interested, this not-quite-a-story is compatible with my SW AU series **_You Became to Me_** , including my _Thwarting the Revenge of the Sith_ trio, if you squint at a couple of things sideways and view a few others solely through the lens of Justé Talant’s eyes. **2.)** Although this is technically modeled on a prompt set that I borrowed from somewhere or another on the LJ (I really don’t recall from where anymore, precisely, though if someone would like to set the record straight, I’ll add the info for the community in question here in my notes), it’s not really meant to function as a response to whatever the challenge actually is that’s associated with said LJ prompt set. I just used the specific prompts to give me a reason to string together a backstory of sorts for Justé. **3.)** Readers might want to consider the fact that Justé, like a lot of native Nabooians, is fairly strong in the Force, but that she hasn’t received any training whatsoever to speak of and so has no real conscious control over that sensitivity to the Force. **4.)** Readers interested in knowing who the physical models are for original characters like Justé should please consult the latest versions of my posted lists of cast original and EU characters and for handmaid(en)s and other important Nabooian characters, which are available on my LJ! For clarity's sake, though, please keep in mind that Justé is physically modeled on a teenaged Victoria Justice. Also, please note that characters who may be alluded to but not referenced by name (certain family members of original characters, for example) are considered too minor to be cast at this time, and readers should feel free to imagine them howsoever they wish! **5.)** Handmaidens often tend to pair off, as is the case here, with Justé Talant and Aimeé Lecosse, a fellow handmaiden from the same training class (hence, the relationship label for original female characters and the underage warning). **6.)** Speaking of pairings, I've labeled this story to indicate Padmé Amidala's love for Sabé, because, even though it may not be specifically mentioned in this character study piece, handmaid(en)s know so much about their sworn Lady that readers can be certain that Justé, like all of Amidala's other handmaid(en)s, would have surely known about how much Amidala and Sabé love one another! **7.)** Readers should please keep in mind that words that appear Gaelic in nature or else modelled on Gaelic terms are meant as place-holders for non-Basic words (in this case, Nabooian). If anything doesn't make sense in context, please just ask, and I'll send an English approximation for the word/term!
> 
>  **Story Notes:** **1.)** Since this is part of a larger on-going AU series that in some respects fairly closely mirrors or follows events of canon (up to a certain point, anyway), readers should please keep in mind that certain characters and events from the prequel movies/novelizations of the films and even events/places/people referenced in the EU or Expanded Universe may be mentioned or alluded to in this story. If anyone has any questions about whether someone or something is AU, canon, or EU canon, please feel free to ask! **2.)** Readers should probably be aware that I am roughly estimating (guestimating might be a better word) the original publication date for most of the character study pieces in the **_You Became to Me_** series (and indeed most of my stories, especially the ones written over a long period of time), based on when I roughed out notes for them in the story notebooks I carry everywhere with me and when I can recall having worked on certain groups of characters. The year is going to be accurate, but the month might be off and the day will almost certainly be randomly chosen, since the online account I had originally posted many of these stories to no longer exists. I tend to go back and edit things that are in series whenever I get the time or a new idea causes me to have to make room for something else plot-wise, and odds are good that a story could have been edited for typos as recently as the day of its posting here, but the original version will likely be much older and fairly close to the publication date that I attach to it, if anyone's curious!

**“Justé Talant, Second Handmaiden in the Second Class for Padmé Amidala”**

 

 **01.) Ward:** A speeder crash caused by a drunken driver made her an orphan at age three, if not exactly a ward of the state (since she had been only a little reluctantly taken in by a frazzled and overworked cousin of her mother, even as her elder sister and baby brother were separately taken in by cousins of their father), and her prospects are somewhat limited in life, given her “old-fashioned” (in the opinion of her peers and even her new family, anyway) preoccupation with the Great Lady and her indifference to men in general, and so it is regarded by everyone in her adoptive family as an unexpected but exceptional blessing, when it becomes clear that the new Queen is reinstating the old tradition of handmaidens/chosen companions and that Justé is almost certain to be accepted as a potential handmaiden trainee.

 **02.) Sensitivity:** She has a much higher sensitivity to the _criosanna teinedíait_ – the living mantle of power of the Great Lady known as Asherah to most Nabooians (though the Lady of Light/Life and Mother of Seas and Stars is called Nisaba by the people of Uriash and other students of Uriashian war-crafts), also known as the Force to the Jedi and others like them – than almost everyone she knows, and she’s dreamed of herself wearing the robes of a handmaiden, so she’s entirely unsurprised when the comm call comes, informing her that she’s been accepted into the program and offering her a position in the new Queen’s second class of handmaiden trainees.

 **03.) Quickly:** The call for the old King’s resignation and an election for a new monarch, the subsequent nomination and election of the Princess of Theed as the new Queen of Naboo, and the decision to revive the old chosen companion/handmaiden tradition all happened a little too quickly for there to be much of any kind of formalized ritual or ceremony put into place for the incoming handmaidens, but she knows that there will come a time when becoming a handmaiden will not only be regarded as a job but a vocation and alternative lifestyle and way of being and believing and observing faith with the Great Lady, and she frankly sees no reason to behave as if it were anything else, now, for her.

 **04.) Forward:** The Trade Federation is a collection of greedy, selfish, thoughtless fools, but they are not usually this forward, this violently insistent, about trying to make a profit, and it bothers her, for she cannot help but feel as if there’s more to the Trade Federation’s sudden hostility and apparently violently forceful nature than meets the eye, some dark force with an insatiable hunger for the pain of her people at work guiding and goading them on.

 **05.) Shine:** Amidala shocks her by having literally no Force shine to her at all, but Sabé and the other four principal handmaidens who cluster about her like worshipers around the skirts of their Lady Goddess more than make up for that lack, blazing with strength and with light in just such a way that she imagines a Jedi might shine with the reflected glow and glory of the Force.

 **06.) Self-centered:** Something about the Queen’s older sister (and only sibling by blood) makes her skin crawl, and only telling herself (firmly and repeatedly) that it’s probably just the young woman’s intensely self-centered focus and worry for herself and her first confirmed pregnancy that’s bothering her soothes her mind enough to keep her from trying to ask Sabé about this Sola Naberrie, before they send her whole training class (herself included) off to Varykino to truly begin their instruction.

 **07.) Holy:** There are three young ladies in her class who burn bright and white-edged and cleanly pure in her perception, if not strong in the Force then clearly sanctified (holy) with its approval, and, of the three, only one has the power to make her forget all else and simply long to sit and bask in her presence, in the reflected warmth and glow and glory of the Great Lady, and so Aimeé is the one she decides to pursue an alliance (and perhaps even more) with.

 **08.) Accept:** Justé has known irrefutably that she is a lover solely of women since around the age of seven or eight, and she delights in the treasures and secrets and life-giving warmth and curves of a woman’s body, so she is thrilled when Aimeé smiles, after several long moments of silence, puts out her hand to accept Justé’s offer of help with her hair, and draws her into an embrace that makes it clear that she, too, wishes for an alliance of trust . . . and of the hearts, as well.

 **09.) Flesh:** Justé is surprised to find herself far more learned in the arts and joys of the flesh than Aimeé (for she considers herself quite plain and ordinary, especially next to Aimeé’s lushly soft loveliness), and she revels in teaching her new lover to delight in intimacy, making each kiss and caress a blatant act of sensual worship.

 **10.) Wrong:** There’s a girl among them who is _wrong_ , ill, unnatural, the Force writhing sickly around her, like maggots in a badly infected putrid wound, and her gut twists up and her mind blanks out beneath a combination of fearful loathing and righteous fury whenever she’s called upon to be in close quarters with this girl, Essé Seltrin, for any significant period of time, the feeling of _wrongnesss_ surrounding the girl so awful that there are days when she seriously contemplates taking up the nearest weapon and just cutting her down (doing the Goddess and their sworn lady and them all, not to mention the various peoples of Naboo, a huge favor, in the process), but something always holds her back, and she’s beginning to fear that she might be too squeamish to do some of the things that may be necessary, to be a truly good handmaiden.

 **11.) Grateful:** Aimeé doesn’t try to downplay her unease with Essé, for which she is wholly grateful (if even more uneasy, to discover that her beloved essentially shares her opinion of the girl), but she’s still not sure that merely watching her closely and being careful to warn the others to be wary around her, too, is enough, even if Sabé does seem suspicious of her and to know that something about her isn’t right.

 **12.) Natural:** It isn’t natural for the Neimoidians heading the Trade Federation to be so boldly insistent in their attempts to claim full control over the Nabooian plasma mining operations: Justé senses a dark presence – something not only unnatural but truly _evil_ – at work behind them, driving them forward, and is about to start suggesting that they and their families need to plan for the worst when Aimeé reminds her why she loves her so much by quietly beating her to it.

 **13.) Bad:** Everyone seems to know that something bad is coming, and many of them have quietly been placing caches of creds and food and weapons and clothing and medical supplies in various of the hidden tunnels and underground wings of the Palace complex, dodging people like Essé (or, worse yet, Lietté and Roché) to try to prepare in case they need to go to ground as a unit of those truly dedicated to the Queen, in response to some disaster.

 **14.) Glory:** She can _feel_ it, when the Jedi come to Naboo – one of them is like a storm of _Light_ , so bright and pure that she feels blinded just by the mere fact of her proximity to such glory – and so knows when Amidala has safely gotten away from the planet (blockade or not), because that blaze joins and eclipses Sabé’s light and then recedes rapidly into the distance, and she allows herself only one small regret, amongst her joy and relief at her Queen’s escape, for being unable to join them.

 **15.) End:** She’s known for a while that this is how it will end, for her and Aimeé, valiantly and faithfully providing cover for the young Princess Ellie of Theed, her closest handmaidens, and what amounts to just over a full class (drawn from among the second and third classes) of Amidala’s handmaidens to escape, so they can go on to rally the people and give them hope until their Queen can return and the planet can be freed of the Trade Federation’s occupying forces, and so – since all she wishes, in the end, is to make a good showing of herself – she gathers up all of her strength and her weapons, kisses Aimeé one more time (fiercely lovingly), and leaps smiling into the fray that will be the death of her, determinedly not looking back or flinching when her brave beloved joins her so they can make their last stand together.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Clarification Note:** One of the reasons why my AU **Star Wars** series _**You Became to Me**_ is so entirely not even nearly complete has to do with the fact that I really started writing at the wrong end of the prequel trilogy for an AU (in my defense, though, when I started what became my _Thwarting the Revenge of the Sith_ trio, which is over a million words long, I thought I was doing a sort of one-shot fix-it based on an idea I got for "fixing" RotS by changing something that happens very near the end of James Luceno's EU novel _Labyrinth of Evil_ , which is set immediately prior to RotS). One of these days, I fully intend to rectify that problem by going back and starting from the beginning, with an AU rewrite of TPM, which is why I took the time to do a character study sketch for a supporting character like Justé. She'll be showing up again, in a more prominent role, whenever I get around to that AU rewrite of TPM. Folks might want to keep that in mind when reading this, since technically this is spoilerish for an AU novel that I haven't gotten around to writing yet!


End file.
